Equipment
* optional
Ingredients
Lamb Braise
- 4 lamb shanks, trimmed of excess surface fat
- 15 g kosher salt
- 5 g black pepper, freshly cracked
- 30 ml olive oil
- 150 g yellow onion, diced
- 100 g carrots, diced
- 100 g celery, diced
- 4 garlic, minced
- 30 g tomato paste
- 375 ml dry red wine
- 750 ml beef stock, low sodium
- 2 fresh rosemary, sprigs
- 4 fresh thyme, sprigs
- 2 bay leaves, dried
Flageolet Beans
- 250 g dried flageolet beans, soaked overnight in cold water and drained
- 1000 ml water
- 2 garlic, smashed whole cloves
- 1 bay leaf, dried
- 45 g unsalted butter, cubed and kept cold
- 10 g fresh parsley, finely chopped
Nutrition (per serving)
Nutrition is estimated per serving. Nutrients without complete source data are omitted.
Full nutrition
- Calories
- 1318 kcal
- Protein
- 127 g
- Carbohydrates
- 52 g
- Fat
- 76 g
- Fiber
- 12 g
- Sugar
- 6 g
- Sodium
- 2462 mg
- Saturated Fat
- 27 g
- Monounsaturated Fat
- 8 g
- Polyunsaturated Fat
- 1 g
- Cholesterol
- 24 mg
- Potassium
- 2845 mg
- Calcium
- 260 mg
- Iron
- 15.8 mg
- Magnesium
- 257 mg
- Phosphorus
- 1033 mg
- Zinc
- 20.2 mg
- Vitamin A
- 313 mcg
- Vitamin C
- 14 mg
- Vitamin E
- 1.8 mg
- Vitamin K
- 63 mcg
- Vitamin B6
- 0.5 mg
- Vitamin B12
- 0.1 mcg
- Thiamin
- 0.35 mg
- Riboflavin
- 0.23 mg
- Niacin
- 2.5 mg
- Folate
- 275 mcg
- Water
- 615 g
- Alcohol
- 10 g
Sources: Aggregated Public Data, USDA FoodData Central
Method
Preheat the oven to 160°C / 320°F.
Pat the lamb shanks completely dry with paper towels and season them generously on all sides with the kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper.
Heat the olive oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add the lamb shanks and sear until deeply browned on all sides, about 10 minutes. Use tongs to remove the shanks and set them aside on a plate.
Reduce the heat to medium. Add the diced onion, carrots, and celery to the fat remaining in the Dutch oven. Sauté until softened and lightly browned, about 8 minutes. Stir in the minced garlic and tomato paste, cooking for 2 additional minutes until fragrant and rust-colored.
Pour the red wine into the pot to deglaze, scraping up any browned bits stuck to the bottom. Simmer vigorously until the liquid is reduced by half, about 5 minutes.
Return the lamb shanks to the pot along with any resting juices. Add the beef stock, rosemary, thyme, and bay leaves. The liquid should come about halfway up the sides of the meat. Cover tightly with the lid, transfer to the preheated oven, and braise for 2 hours and 30 minutes, ensuring the internal temperature of the meat reaches at least 74°C / 165°F for safety, continuing to cook until the meat is fork-tender.
While the lamb is braising, place the soaked flageolet beans, smashed garlic cloves, bay leaf, and water in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Bring to a boil, then immediately reduce the heat to low, cover, and simmer gently for 45 to 60 minutes until the beans are tender but intact. Drain the beans and discard the garlic and bay leaf.
Carefully remove the tender lamb shanks from the Dutch oven and tent them with foil to keep warm. Strain the remaining braising liquid through a fine-mesh sieve into the saucepan, pressing on the vegetables to extract maximum flavor, then discard the solids.
Skim any excess fat floating on the surface of the strained liquid. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat and reduce the sauce until it coats the back of a spoon, about 15 minutes.
Return the warm cooked flageolet beans to their saucepan over low heat. Stir in the cold, cubed unsalted butter, half of the kosher salt if they need seasoning, and the finely chopped parsley, mixing gently until the butter melts and the beans are glossy.
Divide the buttery flageolet beans among warm, shallow serving bowls. Place a lamb shank in the center of each bowl, and generously spoon the rich, reduced red wine sauce over the meat. Serve immediately.
Chef's Notes
- Taking the time to deeply sear the lamb shanks is crucial. The Maillard reaction provides the foundational roasted flavor that anchors the final sauce.
- Do not boil the flageolet beans vigorously. A gentle, lazy simmer is required to keep their delicate skins from bursting while achieving a creamy interior.
- When reducing the braising liquid, skimming the fat is non-negotiable. Reducing unskimmed liquid results in a greasy, broken sauce rather than a clean, glossy glaze.
- If your reduced sauce is still lacking body, you can whisk in a tiny knot of cold butter right before serving, a technique known as monter au beurre, to enrich and thicken it.
- Flageolet beans can be difficult to source. If substituting with dried cannellini or great northern beans, monitor their cooking time closely as it may vary from the pale green flageolet.
Storage
Refrigerator: 4 days — Store the lamb in its sauce to prevent the meat from drying out.
Freezer: 3 months — The braised lamb and sauce freeze exceptionally well. The beans may become slightly softer upon thawing.
Reheating: Gently reheat in a covered pot on the stove over low heat until simmering.
Troubleshooting
Lamb meat is tough and clings tightly to the bone
Cause: Insufficient braising time for the connective tissue to break down into gelatin
Fix: Return the shanks and liquid to the oven, covered, for another 30 to 45 minutes until tender
Prevention: Test the meat with a fork before removing it from the oven to ensure it offers no resistance
Sauce is greasy or separated
Cause: Excess fat from the lamb shanks was not skimmed prior to reducing the sauce
Fix: Remove from heat, let settle for 2 minutes, and carefully spoon off the top layer of oil, or use a fat separator
Prevention: Thoroughly skim the clear liquid fat from the top of the braising liquid before boiling it down
Flageolet beans are chalky or hard in the center
Cause: Old beans, insufficient soaking time, or adding acidic ingredients or salt too early in the cooking process
Fix: Simmer the beans longer, adding a pinch of baking soda to the water to help soften the skins
Prevention: Ensure beans are fully soaked and simmered in unsalted water until completely tender before adding butter or salt
Cultural Context
Braised lamb shanks, known as souris d agneau, are a hallmark of French country cooking and traditional Parisian bistros. Pairing them with flageolet beans, a pale green legume prized in France for its refined flavor and creamy texture, creates a quintessential provincial meal. This pairing reflects the historical agricultural synergy of the French countryside, where rich, slow-cooked meats are elegantly balanced by the harvest of delicate local pulses.
